1. Field of the Invention
This invention broadly pertains to a cleaning composition and particularly relates to a composition for removing dried printing ink from printing equipment such as printing rollers. The composition also is useful as a spot remover for removing various stains from textile articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Organic solvents are used widely for removing printing ink, oils, greases, etc., from printing equipment and other machinery. Cloths soaked in mineral spirts, gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, isopropanol, denatured alcohol and methyl ethyl ketone generally are used to wipe the equipment, e.g, rubber printing rollers, clean immediately after use. Some of these solvents, however, disadvantageously cause localized swelling of rubber rollers which interferes with proper operation of the printing equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,676 describes a non-inflammable mixed solvent system consisting of low- and high-boiling non-inflammable halogenated hydrocarbon liquids such as methylene chloride and perchloroethylene and a light petroleum solvent such as mineral spirits useful for removing ink, grease, oil and other material from printing equipment.
As long as these materials are used immediately, the above-described organic solvents satisfactorily remove printing inks from printing equipment, although as noted above some may cause undesirable localized swelling of rubber printing rollers. However, if the printing ink is permitted to dry overnight or for more extended periods, the hard, crystallized residue is extremely difficult to remove using conventional solvents.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved solvent for cleaning printing equipment.
It is another object of this invention to provide a cleaning solvent that is as easy to handle and as safe to use as other available cleaning compositions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a cleaning solvent that can successfully remove dried printing ink from printing equipment, particularly rubber printing rollers.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a cleaning solvent which is also useful for removing spots such as grease, food stains, etc., from textile articles.
These and other objects which will become apparent from the following description are provided by the present invention.